Yet Another 15 Novel Recommendations Using Only the First Line of the Book
Opening Lines Set the Tone
Over the summer I published two articles about using only the first line from a book as a recommendation to read it. Authors, publishers, and advertising gurus go to great lengths to come up with just the right marketing campaign for a book, but what if all they needed is there on the very first page of the book itself? Are there first lines compelling enough to make you read further?
Of course there are, and those first two articles (linked at the end of this piece) only scratched the surface with the thirty total titles they listed. I had not intended to do a third article on this subject (though I do love a good trilogy), but for months now I have come across first lines of novels and thought “man, I wish I had included that.” Well, as my sister used to say, you can’t hope for a better past; you can, however, press ever onward.
So, dispensing with all the marketing nonsense, here are 15 more novel recommendations using only the first line of the book. The authors thought these sentences important enough to lead off with, and for the ones I chose here and in the earlier pieces, I have to say they chose wisely.
As before, tell me in the comments which stood out to you, and definitely add your own. I’m always looking for that next great read.
1. “It began in the usual way, in the bathroom of the Lassimo Hotel.” — Jennifer Egan, A Visit from the Goon Squad
2. “The circus arrives without warning.” — Erin Morgenstern, The Night Circus
3. “It was inevitable: the scent of bitter almonds always reminded him of the fate of unrequited love.” — Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Love in the Time of Cholera
4. “It began as a mistake.” — Charles Bukowski, Post Office
5. “This is my favorite book in all the world, though I have never read it.” — William Goldman, The Princess Bride
6. “You are about to begin reading Italo Calvino’s new novel, If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler.” — Italo Calvino, If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler
7. “My desert-island, all-time, top five most memorable split-ups, in chronological order: 1. Alison Ashworth 2. Penny Hardwick 3. Jackie Allen 4. Charlie Nicholson 5. Sarah Kendrew.” — Nick Hornby, High Fidelity
8. “The snow in the mountains was melting and Bunny had been dead for several weeks before we came to understand the gravity of our situation.” — Donna Tartt, The Secret History
9. “Making one’s home in an unpublished novel wasn’t without its compensations.” — Jasper Fforde, The Well of Lost Plots
10. “This story ends in blood.” — Grady Hendrix, The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires
11. “Our dragon doesn’t eat the girls he takes, no matter what stories they tell outside our valley.” — Naomi Novik, Uprooted
12. “I went to Key West in Florida this year to enter the annual Ernest Hemingway look-alike contest.” — Enrique Vila-Matas, Never Any End to Paris
13. “And yet, it was no dream.” — Patrick Modiano, The Black Notebook
14. “I was born before this story starts, before I dreamed of such a place as the Arcade, before I imagined men like Walter Geist existed outside of fables, outside of fairy tales.” — Sheridan Hay, The Secret of Lost Things
15. “I forget everything between footsteps.” — Stuart Turton, The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle